Gael Monfils began his 10th appearance at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells on a positive note, defeating Australia’s Matthew Ebden 6-3, 6-3 on Friday.
The 31-year-old, who reached the quarter-finals in 2016 (l. to Raonic), broke Ebden on four occasions, and came back from 0-2 down in the second set, to secure the 71-minute win. The Frenchman improves his 2018 win/loss record to 12-5, highlighted by his seventh title on tour in the first week of the season at the Qatar ExxonMobil Open in Doha (d. Rublev).
Monfils isn't accustomed to playing first-round matches in Indian Wells – the Frenchman has had a first-round bye his past five appearances in the desert (2017, 2016, 2014, 2010, 2009). But Monfils' ATP Ranking has slipped to No. 42, and he's prepared to do the work to get closer to his career high of No. 6. “It's just the fact... You can't change a fact,” Monfils said. “I have to make it better.”
After spending the past four weeks playing on clay in South America during the “Golden Swing”, Monfils adjusted well enough to advance against Ebden.
“The ball [was] flying quite a lot. It was not easy to adapt but today [I] was just lucky to get the win and in straight sets is always good. I will be focused for the next one,” Monfils said.
He will face World No. 18 John Isner in the Round of 64. The World No. 42 leads the American 5-4 in their FedEx ATP Head2Head series, with four wins in their past five meetings. Their most recent encounter occured 12 months ago in Indian Wells, with Monfils recording an impressive 6-2, 6-4 victory to reach the Round of 16.
Ernesto Escobedo scored his first win in Indian Wells, defeating Delray Beach Open champion Frances Tiafoe 7-5, 6-3 in 82 minutes. The 21-year-old, who had beaten Tiafoe in both of their previous meetings on the ATP Challenger Tour, won 68 per cent of his service points and broke the #NextGenATP contender three times to reach the second round. The wild card, who had lost in the first round of qualifying in the past two seasons, now moves into a Round of 64 encounter against 28th seed Feliciano Lopez.
Marcos Baghdatis hit 15 aces and recovered from 2-4 down in the third set to beat Japan's Yoshihito Nishioka 7-5, 3-6, 7-5. The Cypriot, who reached the quarter-finals 12 years ago in 2006 (l. to Nadal), notched his fifth win of 2018 and will next face Rio Open champion Diego Schwartzman. Portugal's Joao Sousa snapped a four-match losing streak to beat Mikhail Youzhny 4-6, 6-4, 7-6(4). Sousa had trailed by a set and a break, but recovered in style before clinching the win in a final-set tie-break after two hours and 39 minutes.
Did You Know?
Monfils’ result at the Qatar ExxonMobil Open in Doha, in the first week of the season, continued the Frenchman’s final appearances streak. Monfils has reached at least one final in each of the past 14 seasons, dating back to 2005.